Author Topic: Custom colours for uncovered humbuckers? (Read 7938 times)

Philly Q · « **on:** September 15, 2006, 10:37:49 PM »

Apologies if this has been asked before, but I couldn't find anything in the forums:

Looking at the purple/black zebra Rebel Yells in the Gallery, I was wondering if there's any possibility of getting humbuckers in other colours?

I guess demand would be limited so it probably wouldn't be economically feasible, but one of my guitars is an ugly green colour and I'd love to get a green/black zebra pickup for it.

TwilightOdyssey · « **Reply #1 on:** September 16, 2006, 01:50:02 AM »

IIRC, Tim has very limited access to some of the crazier bobbin colours, aside from white, black, creme, and apparently purple being a newer one. To make a pickup using a different colour, BK has to make about 100 bobbins. So, unless they feel that the colour you've chosen will be put into 99 more pickups, it will not be made.

Don't give up hope, tho -- there is another solution!

You can buy a pup from another manufacturer and have BK 'rewind' the pup (basically, it will be rebuilt around your bobbins) with the colours of your choice.

I am having a Cold Sweat made out of a black/yellow zebra Seymour Duncan pup. (Not in the immediate future, as the cost of buying a new Duncan and the cost of a BK here in the US is a bit much for a single humbucker at the moment; by the end of the year I hope to have this on order, tho)

Philly Q · « **Reply #2 on:** September 16, 2006, 02:11:24 AM »

Quote from: TwilightOdyssey

IIRC, Tim has very limited access to some of the crazier bobbin colours, aside from white, black, creme, and apparently purple being a newer one. To make a pickup using a different colour, BK has to make about 100 bobbins. So, unless they feel that the colour you've chosen will be put into 99 more pickups, it will not be made.

As I feared. Anyone else want a green pickup?

Quote from: TwilightOdyssey

basically, it will be rebuilt around your bobbins.

Sounds painful. I'm not sure I want to put myself through that kind of indignity at my age.

Thanks Ben.

SliderJeff · « **Reply #3 on:** September 16, 2006, 11:00:37 PM »

Have you guys considered using the "Bobbin Toppers" that are fairly popular... at least here in the States. They are basically glorified stickers that "top the bobbin" and allow you to have whatever color combo you want without actually changing the bobbins themselves. I can't personally vouch for the product as all of my DiMarzios are the colors I wanted at the time. That being said, it's a fairly cheap way to experiment with colors without being intrusive to your current setup. I'm hoping by the time I scr@pe together the cash to get my custom 7 string Nailbomb and Cold Sweat Tim might have stumbled into a cheap bunch of colored bobbins so that he doesn't have to sweat being stuck with 99 extras if no one else happens to want purple and orange paisley bobbins. :)

Here's the link to the Bobbin Toppers.
http://www.universaljems.com/cart/bobbin.htm

Let me know if that helps at all.

FWIW, I am not employed by these guys, nor do I use this product... it's just something that might help with the "custom color" thing.

Regs,
Jeff in Houston

Philly Q · « **Reply #4 on:** September 17, 2006, 12:52:28 AM »

Thanks Jeff, I've never heard of those before. I might get a couple just to see how the colours look.

SliderJeff · « **Reply #5 on:** September 17, 2006, 03:26:56 PM »

No prob, Philly. Like I said, they are a fairly cheap alternative to try instead of buying another retail PU in the color you want and having Tim rewind it.

I guess the other alternative would be to try to snag a used pickup in the color you want from ebay or something like that. In theory, it wouldn't matter if the thing had wire leads long enough or not, since you are just using the bobbins. Might be able to score something like that fairly cheap. But of course, you'd be at the mercy of the sellers as to if they had the particular color(s) you were looking for.

Good luck and let us know if it works out for you. FWIW, I believe I have seen a pretty cool looking Ibanez with the carbon fiber looking Bobbin Toppers on it. I'll see if I can find some pics of guitars with these installed... particularly the green if that is what you want.

Later,
Jeff

SliderJeff · « **Reply #6 on:** September 17, 2006, 04:14:49 PM »

Ok, here's a couple posts over from Jemsite and other places that show the toppers installed:
http://www.jemsite.com/forums/showpost.php?p=252595&postcount=101

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/showpost.php?p=116297&postcount=1

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/showpost.php?p=235203&postcount=1

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/showpost.php?p=116436&postcount=1

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1220&d=1132188620

http://www.jemsite.com/forums/showpost.php?p=284783&postcount=20

FWIW, I've also heard that Seymour Duncan will allow you to send in an old pickup and have the bobbin(s) color changed for a modest fee. So if you have an old SD pickup, send SD an email about the colors you want, then when you get the color right, send it to Tim to be rewound as the correct BKP you want. Kind of a convoluted process, but it gets around using glorified stickers to get the color combo you want. Again, I just read that SD allows you to do this, so it might just be a load of ca-ca. Of course if you don't have an old SD pickup, it's kind of moot. DiMarzio won't do this for anyone and will only allow custom colors/combos to be done for endorsees.

One other consideration on the Bobbin Toppers is that you need to understand that they have some thickness to them... so if you have just slugs in the BKP, they might look a little odd. If you had screws, then you can adjust the height so that they poke through the pre-cut holes in the topper.

Regs,
Jeff

TwilightOdyssey · « **Reply #7 on:** September 17, 2006, 06:12:29 PM »

All good ideas, sliderJeff!
Thanx for posting!!

deg0ey · « **Reply #8 on:** September 17, 2006, 06:24:32 PM »

Quote from: Philly Q

As I feared. Anyone else want a green pickup?

I do, I do!

Bainzy · « **Reply #9 on:** September 17, 2006, 06:37:18 PM »

Quote from: Philly Q

As I feared. Anyone else want a green pickup?

If it's glow in the dark green (ie. white-ish in light, green in dark) plastic, I'd definately be all over that.

SliderJeff · « **Reply #10 on:** September 17, 2006, 06:43:42 PM »

I believe there has been discussion of some company (possibly Jeannie's Pickguards) that does glow in the dark bobbin toppers.. or perhaps they are plastic caps for the bobbins. I know I tripped across a couple discussions about that in my search for bobbin toppers pics and stuff. Google it and see what comes up.

Regs,
Jeff

Bainzy · « **Reply #11 on:** September 17, 2006, 08:21:45 PM »

Seymour Duncan ran a few prototypes of them a while back, but nobody heard anything thereafter. I don't think they got the users forum input they wanted because there were too many members bitching about how they would much rather have a humbucker that was rated at 11k instead :roll:

If I was getting some they'd have to be the actual bobbins, not a sticker or cover etc.

38thBeatle · « **Reply #12 on:** September 18, 2006, 07:46:39 AM »

A rhetorical question: why would anyone want glow in the dark pups?

Philly Q · « **Reply #13 on:** September 18, 2006, 10:55:38 AM »

I believe there is another UK pickup company that already makes glow-in-the-dark pickups.

Anyone else for green pickups? Only 98 to go.

CaffeineJunkie · « **Reply #14 on:** September 18, 2006, 11:37:20 AM »

wouldn't adjusting the screw pieces on the pickup to compensate for the bobbin topper affect the sound of the pickup??